E-cigarettes will soon be banned for young people aged under-18 – and the move has been welcomed by the products’ distributors.
TheJournal.ie spoke to a number of companies that distribute the controversial products, all of which welcomed the ban.
One distributor said that it’s about time the sector was regulated.
Call for regulation
At Intellicig, they don’t sell their products to under-18s, said distributor Colm Bodkin. He said that the sector badly needs regulation.
“We really tried to talk to the Department of Health,” said Bodkin, adding that “it would take two months to get meeting” and they did not meet with Department officials when they made the attempts two years ago.
The company distributes their products to retails and also sells online. He said that it is “about time” that a ban on selling the products to under-18s came in, and there “is an absolute requirement for regulation”.
“I would have been one of the first people to import e cigarettes on a larger scale into the country,” said Bodkin, who said he introduced them to pharmacies in Ireland.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland considers it is “not appropriate” for any e-cigarette products to be offered for sale or supply in retail pharmacies in Ireland, given the absence of regulation.
“I do believe that vendors and manufacturers should be divulging the ingredients on their packaging. There’s no need for all these ingredients,” said Bodkin, who said the liquid in his products contain three ingredients: nicotine, de-ionised water and vegetable glycerine.
I think there’s a lot of hysteria around electronic cigarettes."
He said he believes that “flavours do appeal to children” and they should be restricted for sale. However he is not calling for them to be banned.
Souce: Aoife Barry, thejournal.ie, 29/01/14
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